Derby Day!
Yesterday, Dan and I hosted our third annual Derby Party. Our guests really stepped it up a notch this year, with some great hats, and Mine That Bird made it an outstanding 2 minutes of racing. Unfortunately, we were too busy having a good time to take pictures of the party! However, we did get some pictures of some of the great Louisville standards we enjoyed: mint juleps, benedictine dip, Hot Browns, and mini Derby pies!
Hot Browns
Makes 40 appetizer-sized servings
Ingredients:
2 loaves of French bread
2 pounds of roasted turkey breast, thinly sliced
2 packages of bacon
2 large slicing tomatoes or 8 roma tomaotes
Cheese sauce
To prepare:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice French bread into 40 3/4-inch slices. Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 5-10 minutes, until lightly browned.
Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees.
Line baking sheets with aluminum foil. Lay out bacon. Cook bacon for 8 minutes. Flip bacon, and cook for an additional 8 minutes. Remove bacon from baking sheet and place on baking rack lined with paper towels.
Slice tomatoes for sandwiches.
To make cheese sauce:
Melt 4 tabelspoons of butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 5 tablespoons of flour and stir to create a roux. Stir in 2 2/3 cup of milk. Stir with a whisk until mixture boils and thickens.
Add:
1 1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Stir until cheese is melted and smoothly combine. Set aside to cool slightly.
The assembly line of Hot Brown fixings
How can you go wrong with all this bacon?
To assemble sandwiches:
Line baking sheets with aluminum foil. Lay out 40 pieces of toasted bread.
On each slice of bread, layer 1 piece of turkey, 1 slice of bacon, broken into two pieces, and 1-2 slices of tomato (depending on size). Top each sandwich with 1/8 cup of cheese sauce.
Turn on broiler, and heat Hot Browns for 2-4 minutes, until cheese sauce is browned. Watch carefully so you don’t let the cheese sauce burn!
Then some sweet stuff to go with the savory Hot Browns…
How can you go wrong with Maker’s Mark, chocolate, pecans and pie crust?
Mini Derby pies
Makes 36
Preheat over to 375 degrees.
Roll out two refridgerated pie crusts into 11-inch circles. Cut dough into 36 circles using a 2-inch cutter. (Reroll scraps of dough, as needed.) Fit dough into mini muffin pans coated with cooking spray. Pre-bake crusts for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
To prepare filling, combine 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips and 3/4 cup of pecan pieces in a food processor. Pulse 10 times. Put 1 teaspoon of chocolate-pecan mixture in each pastry cup.
In a small bowl combine:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons light-colored corn syrup
3 tablespoons egg substitute
3 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Stir well with a whisk. Add 2 teaspoons of liquid mixture to each pastry cup.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until pastry is lightly browned and filling is set. Don’t overbake; otherwise, filling will bubble over.
Run a sharp knife around each tartlet; remove from pan. Cool completely on a baking rack.
Ready to enjoy with a cool mint julep!
